College and University Books

As a PSU Alum, a faithful reader of Jordan Hyman's columns in the Daily Collegian during my years at Penn State and a fellow writer, this brought me right back to my voice-losing afternoons and evenings at Beaver Stadium supporting my beloved Nittany Lions. Kudos to Jordan Hyman on capturing th eessence and spirit of the greatest college football program in the nation.

The author here does an outstanding job capturing the essence of Nittany Lions football in a series of short stories, told through the eyes of some of State's most famous players/coaches to ever enter Happy Valley.

Kudos to Mr. Hyman, for attaining all the great stories inside the book. This is a must have for any Penn Stater and any college football fan in general, for that matter.

I got this book as a gift for my boyfriend. He is a serious LSU fan. He loves it. He reads parts of it to me outloud because he finds it so interesting he wants to share it with me. I don't think he has ever read a book for pleasure until now.

My dad is an LSU alumni and when I gave it to him Christmas morning he couldn't put it down. The book itself was in perfect condition when I received it.

Great look into the world of college athletics that you don't see on ESPN.

Gives the readers a real look at what goes on; what's really involved in the world of college sports and the "student athlete".

Great reading.

You think that college athletics have become more show than competition? Well, read this book and come away with what really goes on. Excellent read.

The book offers a great read on the history of intercollegiate athletics. The specific stories about universities and conferences allow the reader to connect to what is current in the world of college athletics. It is gives a good story of what was going on behind the scenes. It is a good book for policies concerning college athletics.

Since reading this guide I am absolutely sure of my decision to go to GWU. The information presented in this guide was honest, thoughtful and incredibly informative. I am not only certain that the school has what I need academically, but I am sure that my social life will also improve, since GWU has so many hotspots so close to campus (good since I won't have a car).

This book seriously helps students who are unsure of where they want to go to college. Since it's written by a GW student, all of the information is honest and open -- NOT from an official's point of view. Also, it'll be awesome once at GW b/c it lists the best dorms, food venues and nightlife spots. Cool!!!!

As a Georgetown interviewer, I look for high-achievers with well-rounded interests. How do you set yourself apart from the pack? Show me you have done your homework on the Hoyas. Read the book!

I love this guide! The information provided is incredibly personal, and is also very open and honest. I am leafing through 4 of these guides in order to find my perfect college, and each of them, although laid out very similarly, have very different information about the schools. I definately recommend these books. A+

Having assisted US students to study in the UK for 20 years I have a pretty good idea of what they want to know, and what they need to know - not necessarily the same thing! This excellent little book "Get Set for Study in the UK', written by Tom Barron, for 12 years Director of the International Office at the University of Edinburgh, covers both these areas clearly and succinctly. There are chapters on finding a University and a course in the UK which suits you, applying and getting accepted. It gives an invaluable glossary of UK academic terms, covers study skills, and gives some advice on using the Internet to get further information. All US students intending to study in the UK will benefit from this book - indeed, it should be their first resource - nothing else covers so much ground for so little money.

Having assisted US students to study in the UK for 20 years I have a pretty good idea of what they want to know, and what they need to know - not necessarily the same thing! This excellent little book "Get Set for Study in the UK', written by Tom Barron, for 12 years Director of the International Office at the University of Edinburgh, covers both these areas clearly and succinctly. There are chapters on finding a University and a course in the UK which suits you, applying and getting accepted. It also covers study skills and some advice on using the Internet to get further information as well as a glossary of UK academic terms. All US students intending to study in the UK will benefit from this book - indeed, it should be their first resource - nothing else covers so much ground for so little money. Dr Eileen Macmillan

Parents, it's not too late to buy this book and send it to your sons and daughters starting their first year in college. You'll feel better if they have this helpful little book in hand. It isn't just a list of what to take (presumably you've already taken care of that). This is an easy-to-read survival manual for the new college student. It has tips on laundry, lofts, long-distance relationships, studying, social life, safety nets--you name it! If you're having separation anxiety as your student sets out on his or her own, buy a second copy for yourself!

"Getting Ready for College" is an amazing resource for high school students on the verge of attending college. The handbook covers not only the essentials (like what to bring, study tips, planning your schedule, etc.) but also addresses the much fuller picture of college life - facing a new social scene, getting homesick, the added pressures one faces with new found independence, and so much more. The book is full of tips and advice from those who've recently gone to college. Based on my years of experience working in student affairs on a college campus, their perspectives are accurate and incredibly helpful. The handbook also serves as a useful guide in preparing for summer jobs between school years and getting ready for the work world when graduation looms near. It's a book you should buy, read from cover to cover, and take with you as a reference guide throughout your college years. You'll be very glad that you did!

Join Yolanda Sahagun in 1973 as she learns about her past, her present and what will eventually shape her future.
Ghosts of El Grullo is the touching and emotionally connecting story of family, its trials and difficulties and yet how necessary and joyful it truly is. As a tender sequel to her first book, Patricia takes us further into the challenging journey towards adulthood that we must all venture on. Her story is a poignant tome, as she relates the immigrant/everyone experience to us in a way that shows us ourselves. She takes us though the odyssey of our coming of age; the difficult father and the under-appreciated mother, the struggle for freedom in a loving, but smothering environment. She is consumed with reaching independence, yet also consumed with the need to keep her family of eight siblings together. I found the book very emotional and enjoyable at the same time. In the end, it is evident that the most powerful of all love is the unconditional love of our parents.
Great book, give us more!

Patricia Santana is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and grew up in south San Diego, California. She has published several award-winning short stories and the novel, Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility that was selected as a Best Books for Young Adults 2003 by the American Library Association.

Santana's new book, Ghosts of El Grullo doesn't disappoint. It continues the story of Yolanda Sahagun, a young woman whose life is similar in many ways to Santana's. She is a member of a Mexican-American family with eight siblings who live, work, love, laugh and cry in the San Diego suburb of Palm City.

El Grullo is the name of the village in Jalisco, Mexico, where Yolanda's mother grew up and where her aunts still live in the family compound. Every summer, Yolanda's family piles into their station wagon and goes to Mexico to visit family members there. The compound is old and the aunts tell stories of ghosts haunting the rooms and verandas. Yolanda was a sensitive and imaginative child and was very curious about the ghosts and about the family history.

In this book it is 1973 and Yolanda is about to start college at the University of California-San Diego. She has scholarships and plans to live in the dorms - away from her father and his old-fashioned and erratic rules and moods. College life is a whole new culture. She is constantly searching for symbolism and ways to mesh her Mexican-American heritage with her new freedom and with people she meets from very different walks of life.

Family crisis, family love, and everyday events are handled with such warmth and caring that I felt like I knew the Sahagun family (or at least that I wanted to know them better). Patricia Santana has created well-developed personalities - even the neighbors and Mexican aunts are more than just names on the page. I don't know how much of the story is based on Santana's own life, but she has certainly created a fictional family full of life and love.

I truly enjoyed reading the book and hope to find and read her earlier work.

Armchair Interviews says: Well-told story of family life.

Steve Thompson clearly shares an emotional bond with the athletes and students that he gives his life to. He once said, "Life is not only about the 4.0, you need to stop and invest in relationships." Thank you, Steve.

This book is very similar in style and purpose to John Feinstein's "Season On The Brink". The author's main focus in planning this book was to present a day to day behind the scenes look at the 1999-2000 Alabama basketball team. And for the most part that is what Stephen Thompson writes about. What he didn't plan for was the team's loving and caring relationship with Robert Scott, one of the assistant coaches who is suffering from terminal stomach cancer. Despite horrible pain Scott is always there at practices and games and always there to provide emotional support for his young team doomed themselves to a season that would gradually come apart as player after player is lost due to injury. At one time, there were not enough players to even practice. Walk on players were used in games. Yet the team is able to pull off upset wins over ranked teams, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and hated rival Auburn and came close to beating another ranked team...Florida. As a basketball fan I love this book. Thompson takes you inside the locker room, insde the coaches meeting and planning sessions. This book is never mundane. The ending is poignant yet hopeful. This is not just a great baskeball book; it's a great book.

It has been said that sometimes you don't find a book, it finds you. "A Gift Before Dying" is a book that found me. If you're a basketball fan, I hope it finds you.

Gladly Learn, Gladly Teach: Living Out One's Calling in the Twenty-First Century Academy is an anthology of essays by learned authors, all of whom are both teachers (or scholars) and Christians, and who seek to balance their belief with the demands of their profession. Each searches for a clear theological vision upon which to base institutional and pedagogical planning, yet each understands and emphasizes the critical importance of diversity, pluralism, and true academic freedom. Though the essays particularly refer to a Baptist institution of higher learning, their broad principles connect with all branches of Christianity in the ever-confusing struggle to reconcile conflicts of faith and science. Individual essays include "What Makes Church-Related Education Christian?", "Pluralism at a Baptist University", and "Integrating Heart, Mind, and Soul: The Vocation of the Christian Teacher". A serious- minded and thoughtful collection.

There are very few books in my life that I intentionally re-read; there are so many books and so little time that it sometimes seems a dis-service to be re-reading things. I have a short list of things I like to revisit - a list of literary and other classics that I try to re-read (sometimes in different edition or translation) once per decade or so. One book, 'The Scope of Our Art: The Vocation of the Theological Teacher', edited by L. Gregory Jones and Stephanie Paulsell, is one that I have re-read each year; when I saw this book by John Marson Dunaway, I immediately knew it would join those ranks.

The title, 'Gladly Learn, Gladly Teach', comes from Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales'; Dunaway gives the context:

A CLERK ther was of Oxenford also,
That unto logyk hadde longe ygo.
...Sownynge in moral vertu was his speche,
And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche.

Dunaway shows that this give the sense of the priority of learning before teaching - while this would seem to be a common sense observation, it is sometimes neglected, both by teachers and by administration. Dunaway also emphasises the element of gladness - teaching is a calling, a vocation, something that should fill the teacher with a sense, as Frederick Buechner claims (quoted by Dunaway), 'the place where your deep gladness meets the world's deep need.'

This volume comes from a colloquim at Mercer University, drawing students and faculty from ten different schools and colleges together to explore the issues of faith and learning in the context of higher education. One thing that I particularly appreciate about this volume, making it a good companion to the above-mentioned text on theological teaching, is that it goes beyond the area of theology and religious studies to incorporate teachers in other fields, including political science, law, philosophy, foreign languages and literature. It also crosses over the denominational and faith lines, including Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish, from different perspectives within those traditions.

Dunaway has two broad sections in the text, contributors from Mercer and contributors from outside of Mercer. In the first essay, Mercer President R. Kirby Godsey references both Martin Buber and Parker Palmer, both leading lights in the area of relationships between God and humanity as well and interpersonal relationships from a theological perspective. The importance in the I-Thou relationship is not the I or the Thou, according to Godsey, but rather the hyphen, the relationship. 'The action is in the hyphen,' he states. The teacher is only a teacher in relation to the student, the 'Thou' that makes the 'I' possible.

Other essays in this section include poet Gordon Johnston, who draws the I-Thou relationship further in poetic substance; Charlotte Thomas, who looks at transformation both from the Gothic ideas of Abbot Suger of St. Denis as well as Proust's literature; R. Alan Culpepper, who looks specifically at a theology of teaching in terms of incarnation, community and creation; Jack L. Sammons, who develops ideas from Paul Ricouer and Ludwig Wittgenstein to analyse the parable of the Good Samaritan; and Andrew Silver, who looks at issues of pluralism - from the perspective of his Jewish identity, he has insights that can be useful for those in predominantly Christian institutions.

From this collection, it is perhaps Sammons' essay that intrigued me most; Sammons is a law professor, and draws upon Paul Ricouer (someone of whom I have done extensive study). He uses the orienting/disorienting/reorienting process to get the student/reader/listener to gain new insights and meanings from that which is commonplace. One of the problems with many of Jesus' parables is that, while they were new at the time they were originally told, they have become part of the common landscape of Christianity, with 2000 years of accumulation. Still this parable and other parables have power to teach, and teach in a deep and meaningful way. Sammons suggests that 'all true teaching is inherently religious: an ancient understanding that perhaps we can learn to see again and anew.'

From the non-Mercer collection, essays include one by Richard Hughes, who develops Silver's themes of pluralism and looks for ways to remain authentic to the Christian faith as a teacher (and for church-related institutions to remain authentic, too); David Lyle Jeffrey makes the strong and convincing claim for scholarship to be done in community, drawing from the long tradition of the church as well as the larger body of English literature; Jeanne Heffernan, a Roman Catholic, draws upon John Henry Newman ('The Idea of the University') and Jacques Maritain to argue for a holistic vision of education in the classroom and across the institution; William Hull looks specifically at the Baptist presence and absence in modern faith/learning conversations; and Mary Poplin provides a glimpse of a 'convert' from post-modern, 'typical academy' thinking to a more biblically-based faith and sense of pedagogical philosophy.

I have one quibble with the Afterword provided by Jean Bethke Elshtain. She is discussing modern ideas of career, job, vocation, calling, pilgrimage, and other such ideas, and makes the claim that, 'to the extent that we lose a rich vocabulary of calling and what it means to take one's stand on a given ground, we lose a particular sense of self.' While this is true, I worry that she (and others) might hold those who are untrained in the terminology accountable for saying or not saying something in the proper way. I myself now understand that, once upon a time when I was talking to a bishop about my calling, I used the word 'career' in a construct where the word 'vocation' or 'calling' would have been more appropriate. However, not having been trained in the terminology, I felt unfairly dismissed because 'all that is being talked about is "career".' We do need to educate people on these differences, but need to be careful not to dismiss those who have the right idea but the wrong wording.

Overall, this is a truly excellent work. The spirit that cover the writings of the contributors is broad, rich, diverse, but all seem to emanate from the same vocational sense of teaching as a call worthy to be pursued and worthy to be celebrated. These are people who could gladly join the pilgrimage to Canterbury, gladly return home again, and have their gladness meet the world's deep need.